Let Me Wander
by TeenageNeko
Summary: One night, Ichigo stumbles across a soul who's a bit different than the others. Rather than go to the Soul Society, it tells Ichigo something that will stay with him the rest of his life. T for slight character death. OneShot.


**Let Me Wander**

Footsteps echoed through the alleys.

Water dripped out of gutters and splashed down on the ground, forming puddles.

Moonlight shone down on Ichigo Kurosaki the Soul Reaper.

Ichigo's long, black coat flowed behind him as he ran. He had been sent home for vacation, which he found, had a catch. The catch was that he needed to send _at least_ forty souls to the Soul Society.

It was his fifth night and he had managed to find fourteen.

_Alright_, he thought, _I have two weeks to save twenty-seven souls while battling Hollows. Hmph, some vacation this is turning out to be!_

After two hours had gone by, he decided to call it a night. So, a very tired and crestfallen Soul Reaper started off to home. He jumped from roof-to-roof, his body a blur to the naked eye. In fact, he was going so fast that he nearly missed a silhouette standing on a roof several houses away.

He changed his direction and hopped over to the figure.

"Oi," he called. "You there!"

Ichigo gave a final hop and landed behind the soul.

The soul was standing with its arms crossed over its chest. A large gourd was tied to its back with a strong piece of cloth. It, who was in fact a male, looked rather miserable.

He looked very familiar to Ichigo—like a soul that would be devoured by self-sadness and transformed into a Hollow.

"Hey," Ichigo said softly, blinking and reaching out.

The soul turned around and looked at Ichigo with his light, icy blue eyes.

"Can I help you with something?" the soul asked in a chilling tone.

For a brief moment, Ichigo was lost in the souls eyes. They were more detailed than any other soul he'd ever met. Countless emotions poured into Ichigo from just looking into those eyes. Regret, sorrow, sadness, confusion, betrayal…hate, every last drop went into him. He looked in deeper and saw the source of all the pain.

A crying child.

A rejected boy.

A misunderstood teen.

A tortured soul.

Then he saw the love kanji on its forehead.

It was like turning the pages of a book. The emotion came strong. One minute, Ichigo felt the love of a pure heart, the next he felt the weight of the world being dumped on his shoulders. He had no idea what the person had gone through, but he did know one thing.

He only had a little time left before Hollowfication.

Ichigo raised his sword and prepared to mark the soul's forehead, thus sending him to the Soul Society. The sword was halfway down when a rough bark the tension.

"Stop!"

Ichigo froze, staring down at the soul in shock.

A complex expression crossed the soul's face. It turned away from Ichigo and stated: "Let me be."

Ichigo frowned and prepared to go into a deep explanation of what he was about to do.

"I said, leave me be."

Ichigo was dumbstruck at the soul's protest. It wasn't that it was protesting that surprised Ichigo, it was that it did it so calmly. For all it knew, it could've been on its way to a second death and it was calm.

_Calm_ of all things.

The soul started to walk away.

Ichigo lunged forward and tried to grab the tail of the soul's coat, thus causing him to slip and fall on his face. He reached out to the departing soul. "H-hey! Don't go!"

The soul turned around with an entirely different look in his eyes. "Leave. Me. Be."

Ichigo was dumbfolded.

The soul gave a nod as if it thought the Soul Reaper was confused. "When I say leave me be," it explained. "I mean, let me wander."

Ichigo felt himself nod.

"Alright then, thanks for the offer, Soul Reaper." The soul gave a small smile and turned to leave for good. Its voice came one last time: "Let me wander."

The words played over and over in Ichigo's mind.

_Let me wander._

The Teenager got up and brushed dirt of his clothes.

_Let me wander._

He slowly trudged to home, not bothering to run. By the time he reached his house, it was only a few hours to sunrise.

_Oh well,_ he thought. _That's what sleeping in is for._

He walked into the house, up the stairs and through the halls. He went into his room and collapsed on his bed. The past event played over again in his mind. The whole thing was pretty strange, but it was those last words that really _and_ truly captivated his mind.

_Let me wander._

Is that what all souls becoming hollows felt? Abandoning sympathy and just…wandering? Maybe so. Ichigo pushed the topic in the back of his mind. He wouldn't have to worry about that. After all, he didn't count on dying anytime soon.

So that whole scenario was dust in the wind for the rest of his life.

But one thing remained. The words that were filled with every emotion in the world at once. They clung to his mind and stayed there. After awhile, they were pushed back far enough for them to be forgotten for long periods of time. But not for eternity.

Every once and a while Ichigo Kurosaki would hear that quiet, chilling whisper in the back of his mind.

_Let me wander._

_**A/N: That was my first attempt to write a sad story. I think it turned out good, except for the crappy grammar. Anyway, tell me what you think!**_

_**EDIT: I went back and fixed some of the spelling/grammar. **_


End file.
